Fractured families search and find nothing

By Tony Stephens, Darren Goodsir and Ellen ConnollyOctober 15 2002

Francoise Dahan and Damon Snape.

Damon Snape was clinging to hope last night that Francoise Dahan, the love of his life, would turn up safely out of the ruins of Bali. But if the worst came to the worst, and he feared it would, he would go on renovating the house they bought together. He would do it in the way that she wanted.

"I just want to make her proud," Mr Snape said at their Caringbah home. "We are partners. We live our lives by our hearts."

Ms Dahan and her close friend, Renee Anderson, also of Caringbah, were in the Sari Club and have been listed as missing. Ms Anderson and her husband, Jason, have a four-year-old son, Noah.

The two women went to Bali with three other girlfriends who have been mates for nearly 20 years, since year 7 at Jannali Girls High School. All five have partners, but this was to be a girls' holiday for a change.

Lisa Briard and Penny Butler arrived home safely yesterday. Simone Hanley is in hospital in Perth with severe burns.

Ms Briard and Ms Butler did not join their friends at the Sari Club. Ms Briard said: "We walked past and looked in, then walked home."

The explosion at the Sari Club about 90 minutes later shook the walls of their hotel, several kilometres away. "We didn't know what it was," Ms Briard said.

She and Ms Butler went to sleep but were woken by a telephone call from Mr Snape, who had heard news in Australia of the bombing. "Where's Franny?" he asked.

Ms Briard looked across the room to see that her best friend's bed was empty. She couldn't find Ms Dahan but spent three hours with Ms Hanley at the military hospital before her other friend was flown to Perth.

Ms Dahan and Mr Snape had been together for seven years and celebrated her 30th birthday in July in Mexico. They are both business analysts, she with mortgages and he with information technology.

The bomb has torn apart other Australian families. Kristy Webster, 15, of Marrickville, flew home yesterday morning and was taken by her father, Brian, to St George Hospital, where she was being treated for serious burns. Kristy's mother, Robyn, is missing.

Three Sumer brothers, from Kings Langley, were injured in the blast. Ali, 46, and Ertn, 41, were airlifted to Darwin on Sunday. The fate of Behic, 42, is unknown. Another brother, Mustafa, called officials and hospitals in Australia and Bali throughout yesterday trying to discover what might have happened to him.

"They have all been on holidays and had decided to meet up," Mustafa said. "I have spoken to Ali ... the blast was very close to him ... he said it all went dark just before the noise."

Ali was last night in intensive care in Adelaide, having been transferred from Darwin with second degree burns and a broken leg. Ertn was being treated in Darwin for neck injuries.

Robert Lewis and David Dunn, of Ulladulla, drove to Sydney yesterday to try for a flight to Bali - to find each of their sons. The men carried posters with pictures of Danny Lewis, 19, and Craig Dunn, 18, who were on the second day of a 17-day surfing holiday.

Nigel Davenport, another former Ulladulla High School student, rang his family to say he was safe but that his two friends were missing. After 36 hours of trying for information by telephone the fathers decided to fly to Bali.